Patrick J. Kearney, a teacher and former Huffington Post contributor, posted a letter to the president defending public schools.
‘President Ulysses S. Grant came to my hometown of Des Moines, Iowa and said the following, “Encourage free schools and resolve that not one dollar of money appropriated to their support, no matter how raised, shall be appropriated to the support of any sectarian school. Resolve that either the state or Nation, or both combined shall support institutions of learning sufficient to afford every child growing up in the land the opportunity of a good common school education, unmixed with sectarian, Pagan, or atheistical tenets. Leave the matter of religion to the private school supported entirely by private contributions. Keep the church and state forever separate.” ‘
